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Anyone any ideas? Piggy can't eat

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Gig

Gig

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Hi all,
It's a very long story, but to try to cut it short, one of my two boars has developed severe difficulties eating. (Over a fortnight now and he's lost a good pound in weight in total). He has been an inpatient with a wonderful lady (rodentologist) locally who has stabilised him by syringe feeding. However, there is no apparent cause for his problem. He does not appear to have a fungal infection, no abcess, no visible soreness or abnormality in the mouth, no injury, and the molars, although a little overgrown have been filed with no improvement. His lower incisors have also been shortened but they weren't problematically overlong.
To watch him attempting to eat is heartbreaking as he has not lost his appetite at all and has always been a real glutton! I'm syringe feeding him at home now, but he's still very gradually losing weight and is not eating any easier.
Has anyone any pearls of wisdom they can impart to solve the mystery before it's curtains for my little fella? :(
Thanks in advance
 
There is a superb GP vet who is expert in teeth in Northampton area called Simon at the Rabbit and Cat Clinic, not sure where you are but I would of thought there is something going wrong with the teeth by the sounds of it.
 
When my piggie went that way it was the begining of an abcess. Did the vet take x rays? If he wants to eat but cant its the teeth. There could be an infection thats not showing or a root issue. Keep an eye on him, keep feeding him and have a loot on line for info. I'd recommend guinealynx and peter gurneys website. Is there isgns of pain when he eats?
 
I am so sorry for your problems; you and your rodentologist have really worked through the most obvious causes.

I have to agree that desperately trying to eat, but not being able to is usually more the sign of problems connected with teeth or some mechanical problem rather than an illness. I might be a good idea to have an x-ray done as a next step.

Best of luck!
 
Thanks for your replies. The rodentologist is helping me sort getting him down to a vet who I believe is used by CCT. It's just a matter of keeping him strong in the meantime. I didn't really expect a hallelujah moment, but it's sometimes worth a shot to see if anyone has had a weird and wonderful problem which hasn't fallen into the usual diagnostic slot!
It may be his teeth - we just can't see it if it is! :Ayociexp113:
 
Awh hope he gets well and you find out what the problem is! mine once damaged his incisors and after a vistit to the vet ( coincidently my cousin ;-) makin things easier) and much assurence theyd grow back and wernt as bad as they looked, i offered mine grated foods which he gobbled luckily for me he dint lose much weight
 
Sorry to hear he's really struggling. First thought is dental, second is oral fungal infection, there doesn't have to be evidence of this other than the symptoms of a dental problem (does that sound confusing?!). Personally I would be giving Daktarin Oral Gel and children's Nurofen, for an absolute minimum of five to seven days to see if there is any improvement.

I have a dental pig of my own, she needs weekly dental work and relies on syringe-feeds, her weight dropped to 575g before she came to me and even now, a month later, she's not staying beyond 700g. She is on both Daktarin and Nurofen and it does make a difference; the Daktarin is good just for oral hygiene as well as oral fungal problems.

I am glad the rodentologist is helping to build him up again. Keeping them strong and getting their weight up is half the battle; great that he has got his appetite though. How much and how often are you feeding him? I am wondering if he's not getting enough food in, or not frequently enough, or if he is getting enough and still losing weight. The latter would suggest to me that oral fungal is a very strong possibility.
 
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it doesnt always have to be over grown teeth that stops them from eating he could have a small crack in one of his teeth this can give them problems sometimes when eating x
 
New problem. Terrible breathing

Hi all,

Advice please. Giggy's still a dental pig and being syring fed. He was really healthy in himself until a couple of days ago when I first noticed him fluffed up. This morning he is breathing very noisily and an eye appears to be runny.
Help please. What do I do for him?

Thanks
Gig's mum
 
I am sorry about Giggy!

Please get him to the vet asap - it looks like he has URI. Being fluffed up means that he has it badly and needs to be seen as quickly as you can. Your vet should have an out-of-hours number on his answering machine. I know that it will cost you quite a lot, but my feeling is that you haven't got the time to wait until tomorrow.

http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
 
Having been through this for the last 6 months, I can only advice that it can take a long time to sort out , the teeth can be a nightmare and just as you think you have found the problem you can find another troublesome tooth hiding away at the back. Can he pick the food up? the front teeth need to be long to do this.

I can advice burgess pellets for syringe feeding they will keep his weight up, and are so much cheaper than the crtical care. I maintained Elvis 's weight for four months on these.

Please don't give up,Elvis is eating now after 6 months thanks to invaluable help from AP.
 
I have to second Wiebke's advice re the fluffed up/crusty eyes, it sounds suspicious of a respiratory infection - worth getting him seen ASAP.

(I also second Ruth's for the info relating to his dental troubles).

Do keep us updated!
 
Hi,
Just thought I'd let you know that Gig's now doing great on the respiratory front. He never did have runny nose/crusty eyes, but one of his eyes was very wet (having previously seen a drop of milky fluid in it I'm now thinking it was that rather than respiratory related). His breathing had been awful - you could hear him on the other side of the room. He was also fluffed up and out of sorts.
I gave him some sudafed before taking him to see Lisa (Willow Rescue). He got rehydrated and initial treatment there before going to the vet to get more Baytril. His improvement was so drastically rapid (over 24hrs) that I'm not convinced it was a URI rather than an allergy, but we're playing it safe.

On the down side, his dental situation just seems to be getting worse. He does less and less for himself on the eating front, and I'm really concerned that I'm on a hiding to nothing whilst having to put him through dental work something like once a week to keep on top of things :(
 
I am glad the respiratory problem seems to have cleared up, agree with you on treating for URI just to be sure though.

Dental problems can be so disheartening to deal with sometimes, I know what you are saying. There can be glimmers of hope, some truly amazing stories of pigs starting to eat many months after stopping, and I have been told of pigs being syringe-fed for a very long time (a year plus). As a very general rule, I say if the pig is interested in life then persevere (i.e. the pig is not just sat fluffed up in a corner, not moving etc.). I currently have two pigs who have zero interest in food, so both 100% reliant on syringe-feeds with no end in sight, all you can do is take things one day at a time. One is a dental pig requiring weekly dental work, while the other pig has bladder and digestive issues.
 
Thanks Ruth & Laura,

Gig's a very happy, obliging character who still has his nose into everything even though his favourite pastime (food) is out of the equation. He has a banana fetish and he will still scrape away at banana for himself but he seems to find picking anything up a real problem and tends to give up on everything else. He also still does the 'grimacing' quite a bit, although not as much as he did when the problem first arose and before his first dental.

Physically, apparently his teeth should not be preventing him from eating perfectly normally (after dental work), but he doesn't seem to agree!:(

Thing is, I work full time, and have 2 dogs as well. Purely from a practical point of view it's extremely difficult to envisage being able to continue syringe feeding indefinitely. I have to say though, I would still keep doing it if I concluded there was a realistic chance of him coming right again.
Question is, how long does he have to keep being put through the dentals before his quality of life becomes questionable? Apart from the physical discomfort he's also missing out on what's always been his greatest pleasure - food! I'm not close to making any decisions just yet but it's playing heavily on my mind.
 
Thanks Flips,

I bought them the moment the post went up! Unfortunately, whilst popular with Pinny (Gig's companion), Gig ignores them :(
 
Gig said:
Thanks Flips,

I bought them the moment the post went up! Unfortunately, whilst popular with Pinny (Gig's companion), Gig ignores them :(
Click to expand...


That's a shame. Someone suggested swirling a little fruit juice on a plate for piggies to explore and lick off- just for a game and stimulation- wonder whether this might be worth trying to get his interest going and mouth moving/ manipulating? Just a thought as I don't have any experience with dental pigs. :)
 
Dentals without a GA should be no problem at all to your pigs well being, Elvis has had his done many times now. Its so annoying that vets can't /won't take the time to learn to do it with using a GA.
Is there nowhere nearby that can do dental work, people travel miles[sometimes hundreds] to see AP in Redditch.
 
Hi Gig's mum :) can i say from a very limited experience (about 2 years +) i had a piggie (my daughter's) that needed dental care often.....unfortunately in OZ whee do not have facilities or knowledge mallethead to do this without anaes!
If you could see Simon i know he's been an absolutely brilliant man for so many piggies on here, so many can vouch! He also was the main reason one of our dear piggies she was kept alive and happy for well over a year or so! ask Debbie aka furryfriends :)
Keep up your brilliant work it sounds like you do care very much and yes whee all know and understand about having other pets and many obligations so i can only send HUGS and hope you are able to get to the bottom of Gigs problems!
Wishing you and Gig all the best xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>
 
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Hi again,
After my first experience with the vet and GA, I researched the subject and found Vedra who put me onto a rodentologist half an hour away from me. Had I not been able to see Lisa and have his teeth done without GA there's no way Giggy would be with us now. I just feel there's a limit to how long he (and me!) has to go through all this. It may sound as though I'm not committed, but I'm trying very hard to see it from the point of view of what is ultimately best for him whilst having to account for other commitments as well. Just simple things like going to visit my mum who needs a hand now and again. I can't without intricate arrangements for syringe feeding and care. As for visiting other members of the family or having a day out - impossible. I can't be away for more than a few hours at a time. If there was a likely end in sight I could plan, but there isn't. It's becoming really tricky :(
Having said that, I'm not ready to give up on him yet. At the moment he's far too interested in life for me to be cutting it short for the sake of some effort. If he lost that interest it would be a different matter.
Thanks for all the kind words of support and encouragement everyone. I'll keep plugging on in there for now!
 
BIG HUG

It is very difficult to balance out all the commitments in your free time and not least those of an overstretched purse with the demands of an ill piggy for any length of time. I hope that you can work out something, even though it may be tough on you!
 
Syringe feeding shouldn't be taking over your life ,I used to feed Elvis three times a day about 40ml a time and his weight was stable at that, its not the end of the world if you have to go out just do them when you come back.
 
After 3 and a half months syringe feeding and almost getting him back to being completely self sufficient, I lost him yesterday to a violent bout of diarrhoea 8...
No idea what caused it. He was ok in the morning. I found him in a mess in the evening, and at midnight he died. Did everything I could - took him to Lisa, had sub cut fluids, immodium, charcoal, nurofen. Absolutely nothing about his environment or his food had changed, and his cage mate is physically fine. Gutted.
 
I'm so sorry Gig, you did everything you could for him. You and Lisa gave all the right treatments to try to combat the diarrhoea last night, so sad he still didn't make it. Big hugs to you. xx
 
awww I'm so sorry to hear this but he went knowing you did everything poss for him, and gave him an extra 3mths of life, nothing is ever better than that x
 
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